Motion graphics overload

Xplane continues to develop beautifully animated presentations using motion graphics. After Did you know 4.0, there is now another video developed in cooperation with the Economist: The carbon economy.

I really like the effects, textures, typography and animation of this presentation, but I think we still have to learn how to use all this technology effectively. The video is relying heavily on text to explain and compare quantitative data (similar to what bullet points do). The pace is so fast, that I have difficulty processing it all (and I had my 10,000 hours of data processing training).

My early thoughts on how to make the most of motion graphics:

• Be careful with background music
• Use text animation only to highlight quotes with non-quantitative information
• For quantitative data go back to the good old simple data charts, but feel free to leverage those beautiful textures and typography
• Beef up the animated character animation: things morphing into another shape, things growing/shrinking (the rising water levels in this video is a good example), the blend of animated film design and presentation design is great
• Think about pacing of animations like you think about pacing of words. Have the courage to pause, accelerate, talk loud, talk softly, pause again. The entire video does not have to be an information roller coaster.

I am curious to hear your thoughts.